When I moved into my house 19 years ago, I changed out all the incandescent bulbs for CFLs. The owner used to use the house for a "weekend" retreat while I live there full time. Just doing that made my electric bill less than that of the three day a week user.

I then looked at my petroleum product usage. Believe it or not, heating the house with #2 fuel oil used more fossil fuel than driving the car and truck. So I put in an outdoor wood boiler, which I use during our below freezing weather. That cut the oil usage from 1200 gallons a year to 600. I'm not 100% wood because I'm not always home to feed the boiler and it gets too hot in the mild spring and fall weather to use the wood burner.

I telecommute as much as possible, although I still put on 14,000 miles a year for the business. My personal driving is typically 1200 miles a year.

I changed all of my lights bulbs to the more energy saver ones that last approximately 11 years according to my purchase. I stopped using regular bounce sheets and am now using the solid bounce that attaches to my dryer wall, it last for over two months, and the gain ones last 3 months.

I liked what one person said about painting all family members green, etc. The twinkie thing was good...my bf and I like being in the dark. I see good that way anyway. I don't like alot of heat. 55-60 is super in the home. Keeps us moving alot and that keeps weight down. We recycle whatever possible. I take ALOT of very cool showers. I use outside hose more than inside shower. Ever take a shower by hose outside when it is snowing? I do. I don't like to be bored...

I noticed the polling results of GB are close to 90% who either do nothing special or simply are becoming more efficient and conserve. Then why do we expect the government to go into debt in order to achieve a specific goal of energy independence?

I feel like I've picked all the low-hanging fruit: - revised the fleet to relatively fuel efficient vehicles- organized work and live locations as much as I reasonably could to minimize annual miles (under 14,000/year between both vehicles)- walk or bike when it's feasible (and with 9 different places to get fed plus my liquor store and bank all within 2 blocks, it very often IS!)- cut my living space in half

I built my own solar hot water/air heater over 20 years ago. It's low tech, and has been saving me money ever since. I put in fluorescent lights long ago, too. I grow stuff in the back yard instead of driving to the supermarket. The roof is insulated R-40 or so. Unfortunately, I have to drive a automatic-shift gas hog (30 MPG Focus) because my wife can't drive a stick shift, but I still try to "mildly hypermile".